NASA Space Alerts

#MeteorSighting: Several witnesses reported sighting a fireball off the west coast of Florida on Nov. 8 at 10 p.m. ET. The event was confirmed by multiple publicly accessible cameras in the region, as well as by the Geostationary Lightning Mapper onboard the GOES-18 and GOES-19 satellites. The object - caused by a small, 2 foot fragment of an asteroid - was first spotted above a point in the Gulf due west of Islamorada. It traveled southwest at 54,500 mph before disintegrating above the ocean, northwest of Key West. More on this fireball: go.nasa.gov/488qpV0 Supplemental data was provided by the American Meteor Society

It’s #SunDay! Here’s your space weather report for Oct. 30-Nov. 5: •1 M-class flare •0 C-class flares •11 coronal mass ejections •1 geomagnetic storm This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the week’s activity. After a quiet stretch, the Sun woke up at the very end of this reporting period. Active region AR14566 rotated into view on the southeastern limb (lower left) around Nov. 3. Within about a day, its magnetic field had tangled into a complex arrangement that tends to produce strong flares. On Nov. 5, AR14566 fired an M3.5 flare, the week’s strongest, along with a coronal mass ejection (not readily visible in this view) that sped away at about 2 million mph (915 km/s). The flare appears as a bright flash at about 2:59 in the video, to the left of and just below the Sun’s center. We’ll be watching this region as it crosses the Sun in the coming days. More about solar storms and flares: go.nasa.gov/3Naeuv9

#MeteorSighting: Several witnesses reported sighting a fireball over southern Tennessee yesterday evening, Nov. 5, at 7:45 p.m. EST. The meteor was also detected by four NASA All Sky cameras in the region. The object – a small piece of an asteroid 2 inches in diameter, weighing 6 ounces – was first spotted 53 miles above Robbinsville, North Carolina, moving a little south of west at 47,000 mph. It disintegrated at an altitude of 25 miles above East Ridge, Tennessee, just southeast of Chattanooga. More on this fireball: go.nasa.gov/4eEkSt1

It’s #SunDay! Here’s your space weather report for Oct. 23-29: •0 M-class flares •3 C-class flares •25 coronal mass ejections •0 geomagnetic storms This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity. It was a quiet week on the Sun, which makes it a good time to look back. This week marked 23 years since the Halloween Storms of 2003, when three giant sunspot groups unleashed some of the most powerful solar eruptions of the space age. On Oct. 28, 2003, one of them fired an X17 flare, still among the strongest ever recorded, and the geomagnetic storms that followed sparked auroras as far south as Texas and Florida. The 2003 storms happened before SDO launched (in 2010), but several other NASA spacecraft did capture imagery of the spectacular eruptions. Check out the archival video from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio: go.nasa.gov/4A0Rgho. This year, the strongest flare of the week was a much more meager C2.8 on Oct. 26. It shows up as a small brightening just inside the western limb (right edge), below the Sun’s equator, at about 1:41 in the video. 🎃 More about solar activity: go.nasa.gov/3Naeuv9

It’s #SunDay! Here’s your space weather report for Oct. 16-22: •2 M-class flares •0 C-class flares •24 coronal mass ejections •0 geomagnetic storms This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the week’s activity. Both of this week’s M-class flares came from active region AR14551. The first, an M1.3 on Oct. 16, appears as a small bright flash just below and to the right of the Sun’s center at about 0:17 in the video. The second, an M1.6 on Oct. 19, erupts at about 1:30, after the region had drifted about halfway to the western limb (right edge). From about 2:00 to the end, watch AR14551 rotate off the Sun’s lower right edge, with glowing coronal loops towering above the limb. Quite a farewell! 🌅 At about 2:29, a calibration maneuver briefly moves the Sun out of frame. More about flares and active regions: go.nasa.gov/3Naeuv9

It’s #SunDay! Here’s your space weather report for Oct. 9-15: •3 M-class flares •0 C-class flares •19 coronal mass ejections •1 geomagnetic storm This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the week’s activity. After the Oct. 10 geomagnetic storm, which led to aurora sightings across northern Europe, Canada, and the northeastern United States, it was a relatively calm week on the Sun. The Moon makes a special guest appearance in this week’s video beginning at about 0:36. Note the sharp outline of the Moon’s edge. That’s because the Moon has almost no atmosphere to scatter sunlight. At about 2:30, we also see a calibration maneuver, which the spacecraft performs periodically to account for changes in its instruments’ optics over time. More about solar activity: go.nasa.gov/4bLKwte

#MeteorSighting: Over 200 eyewitnesses in the Pacific Northwest spotted a fireball at 6:56 p.m. PT on Oct. 14. An analysis of the available video data places first visibility of the meteor 49 miles above Mountain Top, Washington. The meteor moved northeast at 36,000 mph before disintegrating 29 miles above Lenville, Idaho. More on this fireball: go.nasa.gov/4hKYCQ0 Supplemental data was provided by the American Meteor Society.

It’s #SunDay! Here’s your space weather report for Oct. 2-8: • 4 M-class flares • 1 C-class flare • 23 coronal mass ejections • 1 geomagnetic storm This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the week’s activity. The week’s strongest flare, an M6.7, erupted Thursday, Oct. 8, and appears at about 2:58 in the video. The eruption also sent a coronal mass ejection toward Earth. As of Friday, Oct. 9, forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center expect it to arrive Sunday, Oct. 11. It could trigger a geomagnetic storm or strengthen one already underway. If you’re in the northern U.S. or Canada, keep an eye out for auroras! More about solar activity: go.nasa.gov/4bLKwte

Our Solar Dynamics Observatory #SunDay post is taking a break this week as we update some of our image processing software. We'll be back next week with more views of our closest star. ☀️

It’s #SunDay! Here’s your space weather report for the week of Sept. 18 - Sept. 24: • 0 M-class flares • 1 C-class flare • 14 coronal mass ejections • 0 geomagnetic storms This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the week’s activity, though a momentary data gap (which has since been resolved) left out imagery from Sept. 24. It was another quiet week on the Sun. The coronal holes that took form last week — the dark “stripes” that indicate cooler, darker regions where fast solar wind escapes to space — have continued sending high-speed streams toward Earth, though none powerful enough to create a geomagnetic storm. September 22 marked the beginning of autumn in Earth's Northern Hemisphere, as well as a high point in “aurora season.” Aurora season happens twice a year around the equinoxes, when Earth’s roughly 23-degree “tilt” tips our planet’s magnetic field so it more easily lines up with the Sun’s magnetic field. As a result, in September and October and in March and April (around the equinoxes), geomagnetic storms and auroras tend to become more common and more intense. The phenomenon is known as the Russell-McPherron effect. More about solar activity: go.nasa.gov/4bLKwte

It’s #SunDay! Here’s your space weather report for the week of Sept. 11 - Sept. 17: • 0 M-class flares • 0 C-class flares (only counted if associated with coronal mass ejections) • 17 coronal mass ejections • 0 geomagnetic storms This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the week’s activity. A quiet week on the Sun as a cluster of active regions move across the Sun’s disk and around the limb. As of Friday, Sept. 18, there are no active regions on the Earth-facing side of the Sun. The dark “strips” across the Sun that emerge towards the end of the video are coronal holes. These cooler bands of solar material on the Sun (which make them appear darker) are where the Sun’s magnetic field lines open up to space, allowing high-speed solar wind to escape. More about solar activity and space weather: go.nasa.gov/4bLKwte

#MeteorSighting: Eyewitnesses in Michigan and Canada spotted a bright fireball over Ontario at 8:47 p.m. ET last night, Sept. 13. The event was verified by several cameras belonging to the Southern Ontario Meteor Network and other publicly accessible cameras in the area. Analysis of the data from these systems indicates that the meteor - produced by a small fragment of an asteroid about 2 inches in diameter and weighing approximately 7 ounces - first became visible above the Canadian town of Markstay-Warren, moving northwest at 32,000 mph. It disintegrated above a point midway between Wanapitei Lake and Raphoe. More on this fireball: go.nasa.gov/4dEKo0r

It’s #SunDay! Here’s your space weather report for the week of Sept. 4 - Sept. 10: • 2 M-class flares • 6 C-class flares • 29 coronal mass ejections • 0 geomagnetic storms This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the week’s activity. The Sun delivered a “one-two punch” of flares on Sept. 5, with an M1.0-class flare erupting from the Sun’s western limb (right side) at about 0:43 seconds into the video, followed by a C8.5-class flare from the eastern limb (left side) at about 0:46 seconds. Both flares also produced coronal mass ejections that swept through space to either side of Earth. By the end of the video, we have nine active regions on the Earth-facing side of the Sun, most of them clustering together right in the middle of the Sun’s disk. More about solar eruptions and space weather: go.nasa.gov/4bLKwte

#MeteorSighting: NASA meteor cameras and the Geostationary Lightning Mappers on the GOES 18 and 19 satellites detected a bright fireball that occurred over western Kentucky at 1:33 a.m. CT on Sept. 10. The object - a piece of a comet about 16 inches in diameter and weighing ~200 pounds - entered the atmosphere above Crutchfield, Kentucky, and moved southwest at 145,000 mph. The fireball disintegrated above the town of Mabel, unleashing an energy of 50 tons of TNT and creating a bright flare that lit up the night sky. More on this fireball: go.nasa.gov/4yqAveL

It’s #SunDay! Here’s your space weather report for the week of Aug 28 - Sept 3 • 1 M-class flare • 4 C-class flares • 55 coronal mass ejections • 0 geomagnetic storms This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity. While this week’s flare count was fairly low, there was a surplus of coronal mass ejections. The week’s strongest flare was an M3-class, which can be seen erupting from an active region on the eastern limb (left side of Sun) at about 3:02. This active region is rotating onto the Earth-facing side of the Sun, so any eruptions from it in the near future may have some impact on Earth. More about solar eruptions and space weather: go.nasa.gov/4bLKwte

#MeteorSighting: Eyewitnesses in Oregon and Washington reported a bright fireball seen the night of Aug. 30 at 8:32 p.m. PDT. The fireball was spotted at an altitude of 52 miles above the western slope of Mount St. Helens. Moving west at 48,000 mph, the object traveled some 80 miles through the upper atmosphere before disintegrating 33 miles above Astoria, Oregon. This fireball was not associated with any meteor shower, and meteorites are not thought to have been produced when the object fragmented. More on this fireball: go.nasa.gov/4xysLaI Eyewitness accounts supplied by the American Meteor Society

It’s #SunDay! Here’s your space weather report for the week of Aug 21 - 27: • 8 M-class flares • 3 C-class flares • 32 coronal mass ejections • 0 geomagnetic storms This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity. Active region AR14513 — the bright cluster of activity that has made its way across the Sun’s disk this week, appearing in the center at about 2:10 in this video — produced all but two of this week’s flares, though none reached X-class. The strongest flare in this period was an M6.9, also produced by AR14513, appearing at about 1:57 in the video. It still has a few more days on the Earth-facing side of the Sun, so we'll keep watch! More about solar eruptions and space weather: go.nasa.gov/4bLKwte